Senate Judiciary Committee Amendment
S 112 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Fraudulent Check Expungement

The Committee on Judiciary proposes the following amendment (SJ-112.BM0005S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, SECTION 1, by striking Section 34-11-90(f) and inserting:

(f) notwithstanding another provision of law, if a defendant receives multiple convictions within a three year period of time in magistrates court for a violation of this section, the defendant may, after ten years from the date of the last conviction, apply or cause someone acting on his behalf to apply, to the court for an order expunging the records of arrest and the multiple convictions. This provision does not apply to any crime classified as a felony. If the defendant receives no other convictions during the ten year period following the last conviction under this section and full restitution has been made on all checks that are the subject of the convictions, the court must issue an order expunging the records. No person may take advantage of the rights permitted by this subsection more than once. Neither the application for nor successful expungement of a qualifying applicant's record as authorized by subsection (e) precludes application for and expungement of a qualifying applicant's record under this subsection. After the expungement, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is required to keep a nonpublic record of the offense and the date of its expungement to ensure that no person takes advantage of the rights permitted by this subsection more than once. This nonpublic record is not subject to release under Section 34-11-95, the Freedom of Information Act, or any other provision of law except to those authorized law or court officials who need this information in order to prevent the rights afforded by this subsection from being taken advantage of more than once.